A quiet, waymarked forest loop just outside Mitchelstown that ends at a hidden waterfall tumbling through a rocky gorge on the Muchnagh River.
A 5.4 km waymarked loop (blue arrow on white) starts at the Mountain Barrack car park, mixing public road, forest track and path. It takes about 1.5 hours and is graded moderate, with a short steep pull after the waterfall.
A spur drops to Ballard Waterfall on the Muchnagh River, reached by wooden steps with handrails to a timber viewing platform above the gorge.
A country boreen leads past a metal bridge into a deep V-shaped wooded valley crossed by two timber footbridges, with fine views of the surrounding hills.
The Muchnagh River is known for otter, salmon, brown trout, brook and river lamprey, while the mixed woodland has a rich field and shrub layer for botanists.
The gorge is said to have sheltered the highwayman Willie Brennan, immortalised in the ballad Brennan on the Moor, before his hanging in the early 1800s.
The loop links to the 168 km Blackwater Way (Avondhu), part of the European E8 route, if you want a longer walk through the River Blackwater valley.
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